Battle of Ilima
The Battle of Ilima took place during Operation: Hollow Storm in 14 A.E. Within the six months following the Lightmass Offensive, the cities of Tollen and Montevado are sunk underground by the Locust Horde, signaling to the Coalition of Ordered Governments that the Locust survived the bombing and Jacinto City was in danger of being sunk as well. The COG launched an underground assault against the Locust Horde in order to prevent the sinking of Jacinto and the other cities on the Jacinto Plateau. However, hours into Operation: Hollow Storm, the seismic activity was detected under the city of Ilima. It was soon discovered that the Locust were using the gargantuan Riftworm that was woken up by the Lightmass Bomb to sink Ilima City just as it sunk the cities of Tollen and Montevado. Order of Battle Prelude One month after the Lightmass Bombing, the city of Tollen was mysteriously sunk. Soon after, the Tollen Dam was ambushed and occupied by the Locust Horde. The nearby city of Speyer, a manufacturing town for the Coalition of Ordered Governments Army lost power and evacuated all Gears, civilians and manufacturing to the city of Ilima. In the following month, the city of Montevado began experiencing the same seismic activity that Tollen experienced before it sank. Delta-One was sent to investigate and evacuate the city. Montevado sank the same as Tollen. Following the sinking of Tollen and Montevado as well as the Siege of Jacinto City, the Coalition feared that Jacinto City was next to be sunk. Six months later, the COG devised and launched Operation: Hollow Storm, a massive assault against the Locust Horde by invading their stronghold and ending the Locust War once and for all. Sinking of llima Hours into invading the Inner Hollow, the same seismic activity was detected that occurred under Tollen and Montevado before they sank. COG High Command realized that a sudden increase in seismic activity could indicate another attack. While the Gears fought the Locust underground, the topside forces of the Coalition evacuated the civilians from the city as a precaution. Lt. Anya Stroud gave orders to Sgt. Marcus Fenix of Delta Squad to investigate the seismic activity under Ilima. During the height of the assault on the Inner Hollow by the COG soldiers, the Riftworm, led by Ketor Skorge created a massive sinkhole by undermining the rock beneath Ilima and bringing the entire city down into it, killing hundreds of the civilians still trapped within the city. Immediately after the city was sunk, the Locust began to pour in to the ruined metropolis by using the Riftworm and several Corpsers to dig tunnels from the Hollow into the sinkhole, allowing their Drones to quickly overrun the ruins. The existing defenders left in Ilima were swiftly overwhelmed by the onslaught and the Locust rounded hundreds of civilians and Gears up for torture in the Beast Barges. Battle of Ilima Delta Squad saw the destruction first hand and entered the sunken city after following the tunnels of the Riftworm. Fighting though the Locust patrols in the city, they found the city largely empty of human life with the exception of a handful of civilians. After a King Raven crashed into the ruins, Delta went to investigate, but were ambushed and only saved with the intervention of Pvt. Augustus Cole. The additional squads of Gears began deploying in the city. Delta led a charge through one of the Locust tunnels in search of Cpl. Damon Baird and Pvt. Tanner. However, Delta, along with the rest of the COG discovered that the Locust are taking human prisoners and taking them deeper into the Hollow to either be processed, a form of torture or enslaved in a labor camp. Delta Squad failed to find Pvt. Tanner alive, but found and released Cpl. Damon Baird from captivity. Delta engaged the Locust by disrupting the enemy supply lines by striking at the Beast Barges which are large Locust barges ferrying the human prisoners. In a campaign to rescue the prisoners, Delta Squad found Cpl. Tai Kaliso who was last seen battling Ketor Skorge at Landown while the rest of the Gears deployed underground. Kaliso was captured by Ketor Skorge and tortured which led to his suicide by shooting himself with a Gnasher Shotgun. With the ruined city largely in COG hands, Delta was assigned a mission by Col. Victor Hoffman and ordered an evac for Delta from the Ilima sinkhole. Delta managed to find a high enough structure for the King Raven to land. After planting the flare for the King Raven, the Locust forces sighted the flare as well and began an ambush on Delta Squad. The Gears managed to repel the Locust as the evac helicopter arrived. However, the Riftworm began to devour the remains of the city. A pile of rubble caused the King Raven to malfunction and drop Pvt. Benjamin Carmine into the mouth of the Riftworm. The rest of Delta, inside the King Raven were also swallowed by the Riftworm. Aftermath The Battle of Ilima was a tactical victory for the Coalition, but a costly one. One of humanity's few remaining refuges was compromised. Hundreds of men, women and children are lost to the darkness of the Beast Barges and the Inner Hollow while the granite base of the Jacinto Plateau was further weakened by the Riftworm's tunneling. The COG managed to drive the Locust from the city, but Ilima had to be abandoned as it became too exposed to the enemy attacks to be defensible. Still, Delta Squad from the inside managed to destroy the Riftworm. The loss of the Riftworm meant that any attempt by the Locust to sink Jacinto would be much more difficult and the Gears gained new, vital intelligence regarding the Locust strategy. Any surviving humans or Locust in the city are killed when the Inner Hollow was flooded by Delta Squad. Appearances *''Gears of War 2'' *''Gears of War 4'' References Category:Battles Category:COG military victories Category:Events